house speaker john baron. but what it could ultimately do is start to lay the ground work for providing him cover to be able to back of of off his insistence they're not going to raise rates on top earners. what that letter shows i think that republicans are acknowledging that the president does have the leverage in these negotiations. over the summer privately republicans their aides were saying they didn't think the president would let it get to that point. he's chaffed becauseat's what she's shown to do in previous budget negotiations the debt ceiling back in december of 2010 when he extended the bush era tax rates after saying he wouldn't. but now what republicans are saying is hey, it does look like the president is willing to hit that fiscal cliff dead lie, and you know that's because in part the president is the best messenger. this is the key issue that he campaigned on and he's continuing essentially to campaign on it. >> rose: how much pressure is the president getting from quote the left and his par